Sales of beverages in cans have grown 50 percent from last year
Environmental tax cuts and more variety in packages have increased the
popularity of cans
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Sales of drinks packaged in cans have increased 50 percent from last year.
"This figure is based on the official number of sold bottles and cans. However, we will get the statistics on can and bottle recycling only next spring", says head of communications Johanna Ljungberg from Suomen Palautuspakkaus, which administrates the return of reimbursable beverage cans and bottles in Finland.
The growth of can sales is mainly down to cheapened prices, according to managing director Timo Jaatinen from the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry. The environmental tax on cans was reduced from 16 cents per can to 8.5 cents in the beginning of this year.
According to sales director Pekka Tiainen from the Sinebrychoff brewery, the tax cut enabled the stores to introduce a more diverse selection of packaging.
"Now stores have can packages in different sizes, and due to tax cuts the difference in price between bottles and cans has become smaller."
The environmental tax will be withdrawn in the beginning of 2008 and from then on cans will be taxed the same way as returnable bottles.
According to Jaatinen, the growth of can sales was expected. "However, it has been slightly slowed down by the very successful campaigns of multiple-packaged bottles." Jaatinen's reference is to the loss-leaders in supermarkets of late, in the form of 6-pack and particularly 12-packs of beer, known colloquially as "dachshunds".
According to Tiainen, 24 percent of medium-strength beer sold over the counter in stores has been in cans this year, as opposed to 16 percent last year.
Sales of soft drink cans have been significantly lower, increasing from one percent in 2004 to two percent this year.
The share of cans is largest in cider sales, where 40 percent of all supermarket sales are in cans.
Some 97 percent of bottles and 80 percent of cans are returned for recycling in Finland. The aluminium used in cans recycles forever as it is melted down and then made into new cans.
The lower number of returned cans is down to consuming habits, according to Ljungberg. To some extent it is also a matter of where the drinks are consumed. Cans are often used outdoors and on picnics, in part because they are lighter to carry.
The high recycling figures, even for cans, reflect how conscientious Finns are over the issue.
"We dutifully recycle paper, glass, plastic, and aluminium cans. You have to take your hat off to Finnish consumers", Ljungberg says.
It has been estimated that a glass bottle circulates around 33 times. The tax on cans was a response to the higher energy costs of making the aluminium containers, and the greater emissions load involved. On the other hand, from the perspective of free competition, the environmental tax is a barrier to free trade.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 28.10.2005 - TODAY |
 Sales of beverages in cans have grown 50 percent from last year
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